MMO's On The Consoles. Will They Succeed?

[email protected] writes: MMO’s on the consoles really haven’t been a part of gaming for as long as I can remember. The reason is because the knowledge of the internet and technology haven’t really been there in order for consoles to take on such a serious role.

This is exactly what Final Fantasy XI did. All players were on the same servers regardless of platform. PS2, PC and 360 players all played with each other.

SE is also doing the same with Final Fantasy XIV as PC and PS3 players will be playing together once the PS3 version comes out.

The question of if MMO's can succeed on console is pretty stupid if you ask me. Final Fantasy XI started as a primary console MMO with far more then half it's population coming from the PS2 and the game is still running today with a pretty healthy population.

And even before that there was Phantasy Star Online on the Xbox which was pretty successful as well. It didn't last as long as Final Fantasy XI and wasn't exactly the full definition of a MMO but it was a big online game that was quite popular for awhile.

Not only is their no subscription to worry about, But NCSOFT could probably be granted the same sort of status that Konami, EA, and Valve have so that they could run their own network-servers so there could be cross play between PC and PS3.

Guild Wars is not too simple, but also not too complex.

I think it's even possible for the game to sell even more copies than the PC counterpart.

Since because there's no montly fee, all NCSOFT's biggest worry would be is selling games, and since WoW is even bigger than when GW1 launched back in 2005, NCSOFT would be foolish to not bring this to the PS3.

ArenaNet the developers of Guild Wars 1 and 2 did fine with GW1 despite WOW's explosion into the scene. They have absolutely nothing to fear about the sales of GW2 its already topped alot of people's list as the Most anticipated MMO. An im very sure sales will be the highest they've ever acheived with Guild Wars 2. They don't need the consoles at all. Its more expensives for 'un-guaranteed sales' There's only a few that actually would pick up GW2 for their console its just not the market for MMO's.

We all know consoles are FPS galore! and they've taken that from PC's. But MMO's with the level of communication required to make raidin/groupin/trading work doesn't flow well with consoles.

An most MMO players like myself have pcs an conosoles and im sure given the choice to play an MMO on their gaming rig or their console They will pick their Gaming rig.

Consoles expand the MMO market....the market that WoW has a 70% lock on, So the games have to go somewhere.....It's business spinalc0rd.

For the record, Consoles have been able to communicate and game with PC players even BEFORE FINAL FANTASY 11 back in 2002 on the PS2's 300mhz architecture...so I'm not sure why you think doing so (rading/grouping/trading) is somehow revolutionary in 2010.

NO, unless they reduce the prices of there monthly pay to play, or make it free. I was interested in DCU for the PS3, but I can't see paying 15 bucks a month to play it considering I will probably only play the game 4 to 8 hrs a week.

It will be hard to succeed, because you have clueless console gamers who believe that they should be privileged over PC gamers, and have MMO be free to play. These types of console gamers neglect the fact that it cost a lot to run and maintain servers.

They need to be F2P MMOs games.......it could have a huge install base if the game is good and advertised well. People can play MMOs for 10+ hours in one sitting but that is not the same on cosole (unless they are super hardcore) APB could have survived if it went console and free to play.

When you you spend 5 years and a hundred million dollars on a bad game, causing your studio to go under, I don't think there being an Xbox version of the game would have helped APB or Real Time Worlds themselves. It probably would have cost and an extra 10-20 million to properly port APB to consoles anyway.

Exactly. Console gamers are not into MMO's like PC Gamers are. Thats why these high end developers are making their MMO's for the PC Only.

I hear alot of talk about DCUO but have you actually seen the gameplay?? lool the game looks dead boring no soul. Just wait remember that Spinalc0rd said that DCUO will launch and go quiet a week later. The game will fail.

I'll agree that Vindictus and Guild Wars would probably work well on console, due to more simplistic controls or less skill buttons. However, I played lotro for a while and probably had about 40 slots filled with skills/potions/abilities. There are some things you just need a keyboard for, and I don't think you could ever effectively map that many actions to a controller.

"We wanted to make the next EverQuest be something that still keeps the flavor the original and the lore and core tenants of it, but we wanted to make something that is truly next generation," said SOE president John Smedley of the game's direction. Smedley also said that SOE plans to provide a wide range of scalability for the game, noting that EverQuest Next will accommodate cutting-edge tech right down to minimalist laptops."

Seems like the next EQ could end up on PC and PS3. And seeing as its pretty much a reboot it could be good real good. Before WoW the big MMO was EQ.

He also said this in 2009

Speaking to GameDaily, SOE president John Smedley said he believes that MMO gaming on the PS3 will bring in a lot of new players ("a lot of the people who play PS3 games right now aren't the same people playing MMOs"), and these players will in turn account for up to 50% of SOE's business:

I think PS3 will be close to half our business. There's an audience now waiting for online games on the PS3. I believe PSN has over 15 million users today (ed: Kaz Hirai puts this number at 17 million). It's growing so quickly, we see a great user base potential there.

Well the base is larger now and if they want the PS3 user base they would bring not only DCU, and The Agency to win them over...They would bring EQ to the PS3 I would think.

i think mmos on console need a free to play model or a cheap yearly subscription like 10 or 15 bucks. yea i know servers are very expensie especially for mmos but thats what they need in order to succeed on consoles.

dc universe online is shaping up to be a good game but the subscription model has definitely turned off some potential buyers.

i think the upcoming mmos will decide if it worth to invest on console mmos or not. will subcription model mmos like dc universe work or free to play model like the agency on the ps3. thats what sony is testing the waters for.

I've never played an MMO in my life, I've always been a console gamer. When I seen all trailers & what have for DC universe, I was certainly interested. That is until they announced a monthly subscription, it just feels odd to me to buy a game & to still have to pay for it after the initial purchase.

I think there really should be at least some kind of demo for an MMO. With DC universe I'd happy if they just put a demo containing 2 blocks of the city, character create & put a limit on the stats/rank/unlocks, even have a time limit if they're worried people will just keep playing the demo.

I just feel people in the same boat as me who probably never gamed on a PC or played an MMO won't feel like ponying up the cash for something they've never tried before, it justs feels a little too risky for me. I haven't even been playing online alot lately, so if I was to buy the game & pay the fee, it'd want to be one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had or I never consider it again.

At the moment, I won't be buying DC: U, but I'll still look out for people's experiences or feedback (I'll probably be checking youtube alot). If looks great who knows I could be surprised by what I see, I haven't written it off completely.

Only way I see them working is if MS and Sony get a big cut of the monthly fee, however that would significantly raise the monthly fee, and would be counterproductive because console players already do not want to pay a fee at all. MS and Sony make a lot of money of people buying games, when you get sucked into a good MMO you stop playing everything else, which spells bad for the system makers.